same old oak, different angle, different posture. progress in stages.

dead colouring stage/local colour. start planning out colours and where they should be. start puting down a flad bed of colour (or trying to) . notice tree - here I've started the 'big form modeling stage' ( creating a '3d effect' put simply...modeling the 3 family tones. remeber - stay in those 3 families - create a unity of tone.
the background - is lightest. as the view receeds, things get brighter - look out on a grey day and notice the tone shifts as well as the saturation of colour. this is vitally important.

I was taught that nature cheats, - and so the human brain has to order the choas of tone and colour in front of you when your painting and process all that info - into creating an illusion on canva.s that is basically painting/drawing! so there are rules you have to abide by in order to 'talk in paint' . the old masters where MASTERS in ordering what they saw in from of them , into masses and lines of tonal colour on the canvas in front of them.

I've also started the sky here. the lightest tones are low. I don't know what I do with skys, but clouds are fun. watch them, and think of them in paint as you drive your car. watch the shapes move and the study you get in tone from a cloud are second to none.



(the Burnt umber white/ campitura colour are all part of the first stage - the drawing in/monochromatic stage were i break down light/darks and start to bring the tonal families into play. start breaking it from 2 tone - dark /light to 3 tone - light , mid , dark. all staying in the monochromatic stage. no colour.




starting to plan the compostion and feel of the piece. asking myself, what do i want it to feel like? were are th cool/ warm areas? were is the darkest darks and the lightest lights going to be? what colours do I want to use? what do i want to use form the photo, what don't I want to use?



I then soften edges were they need to be soft and start breaking down the drawing into light / dark areas. I use bristly brushes and turps to soften the drawing and get nice fuzzy areas.




the beginning of the process. I transfer drawing from drawing with a grid, I grwid up canvas and enlarge the drawing, se everything is in its right place. this is the longwinded and drawn out part. I use burnt umber and turps.